One of my favorite things is a good love story. I absolutely love to snuggle up with a blanket and some warm, sugery drink and watch or read about some dashing hero fighting to save the damsel in distress. I think my favorite is Pride and Prejudice, but you can gurantee that I will never turn down anything related to Jane Austen or Disney. I have this longing for an adventure like this in my own life, and so far, I haven’t found it.
This is what gets me: God is offering us this love story; a passionate and real love that exceeds our understanding (exactly what we have been longing for, mind you) and yet some still turn Him away. Oh sure, maybe you already have a flesh and blood partner, or maybe you don’t understand how an immaterial God could love you. Or maybe you’re scared. I think the latter is true for me. I tell myself that I want someone to pursue me, but when someone actually does I close myself off and get nervous. Scared.
“Why?”, I ask myself. “This is what you asked for, Laura, so why do you push everyone away?”.
Truth is, I’m scared. And so are a lot of other people in this position. No wonder I can’t find my love story. I won’t let God get close to me. But here’s the thing: God is the only one who can open us up. If we let him pursue us and love us, then we will find that in life as well. This is a quote I really love from the book Wild at Heart by John Eldredge that encompasses what I’m talking about:
“God is a romantic at heart, and he has His own bride to fight for. Though she has fallen captive to his enemy, God is willing to move Heaven and earth to win her back. He will stop at nothing to set her free.”
I wrote a speech last year to present to my class. It was my chance to say anything I wanted to my peers before we all went our separate ways; it was my chance to have my voice heard. So, of course, I spoke about love stories. What can I say? It’s written on my heart and something, I believed, that everyone can relate to. I was terrified to stand at that podium and talk for 11 minutes, but I am proud of what I said.
You can read my speech here.